Systems, methods, and computer readable medium for generating playlists

Abstract

Methods, systems and computer program products are provided for generating a playlist. An application programming interface (API) receives a request to generate a playlist, where the request includes a set of rule-primitives. A playlist engine evaluator evaluates a rule corresponding to each rule-primitive in the set of rule-primitives across a catalog of media content, calculates a cost associated with each item in the catalog of media content, and generates a playlist based on the items of the catalog having the lowest costs.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An apparatus for generating a playlist, comprising: a processor coupled to a memory and a catalog database, and configured to function as:
 an application programming interface (API) configured to communicate with a requestor interface and receive a request from the requestor interface to generate a playlist, the request including a set of rule-primitives; and 
 a playlist engine evaluator configured to:
 evaluate a rule corresponding to each rule-primitive in the set of rule-primitives across a catalog of media content stored in the catalog database, and evaluate a set of corresponding weights respectively associated with one or more rule-primitives; 
 calculate a rule cost associated with each item in the catalog of media content and the weight associated with the corresponding rule-primitive; and 
 generate a playlist based on the items of the catalog having the lowest rule costs, wherein the API communicates a response including the playlist to the requestor interface. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the playlist engine evaluator is further configured to compute, for each item of the catalog, a plurality of rule costs associated with a corresponding plurality of rules, and accumulate the plurality of costs for each item. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the playlist engine evaluator is further configured to calculate the rule cost of each item in the catalog based on a playlist history. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the playlist engine evaluator processes the rules across each item in the catalog iteratively using a heuristic search algorithm. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the heuristic search algorithm is a beam search algorithm. 
     
     
       6. A method for generating a playlist, comprising the steps of:
 receiving a request from a requestor interface to generate a playlist, the request including a set of rule-primitives; 
 evaluating a rule corresponding to each rule-primitive in the set of rule-primitives across a catalog of media content stored in a content database, and evaluating a set of corresponding weights respectively associated with one or more rule-primitives; 
 calculating a rule cost associated with each item in the catalog of media content and the weight associated with the corresponding rule-primitive; 
 generating a playlist based on the items of the catalog having the lowest rule costs; and communicating a response including the playlist to the requester interface. 
 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising the steps of:
 computing for each item of the catalog a plurality of rule costs associated with a corresponding plurality of rules; and 
 accumulating the plurality of rule costs for each item. 
 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 6 , wherein a playlist history is an input to the calculating and the rule cost associated with each item is adjusted based on previously played items. 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 6 , wherein, the rules are performed across each item in the catalog iteratively using a heuristic search algorithm. 
     
     
       10. The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the heuristic search algorithm is a beam search algorithm. 
     
     
       11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon one or more sequences of instructions for causing one or more processors to perform:
 receiving from a requestor interface a request to generate a playlist, the request including a set of rule-primitives; 
 evaluating a rule corresponding to each rule-primitive in the set of rule-primitives across a catalog of media content stored in a content database, and evaluating a set of corresponding weights respectively associated with one or more rule-primitives; 
 calculating a rule cost associated with each item in the catalog of media content and the weight associated with the corresponding rule-primitive; 
 generating a playlist based on the items of the catalog having the lowest rule costs; and 
 communicating a response including the playlist to the requestor interface. 
 
     
     
       12. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , further having stored thereon a sequence of instructions for causing the one or more processors to perform:
 computing for each item of the catalog a plurality of rule costs associated with a corresponding plurality of rules; and 
 accumulating the plurality of rule costs for each item. 
 
     
     
       13. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein a playlist history is an input to the calculating and the rule cost associated with each item is adjusted based on previously played items. 
     
     
       14. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein, the rules are performed across each item in the catalog iteratively using a heuristic search algorithm. 
     
     
       15. The computer-readable medium according to  claim 14 , wherein the heuristic search algorithm is a beam search algorithm.